CEBU, Philippines - After having said that a lesser budget of the Province of Cebu is expected for next year, Gov. Hilario Davide III announced yesterday that he would be proposing a P446-million allocation for development projects.
Davide said the amount represents the Capitol’s 20-percent Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share as “development fund†that would be used to finance items in the Annual Investment Plan (AIP).
The Local Finance Committee also met yesterday to draw up the AIP to be approved by the Provincial Development Council tomorrow.
Utilization of the development fund forms part of the AIP, which the PDC must approve before the executive department submits the 2014 annual budget to the Provincial Board (PB) for ratification.
Davide said the development fund would be used in social and economic endeavors, as well as administrative and environmental governance and services.
He has yet to reveal the exact amount for next year’s annual budget that his office would submit to the PB.
He earlier said, though, that it would lesser than this year’s P3.26 billion, which is 11 percent lower than the P3.6 billion originally proposed by then governor and now Third District Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia.
In her proposed budget for the Capitol, Garcia set aside P520 million for development projects but the PB only approved P362 million.
Davide took over as governor after winning the elections last May. If his proposed appropriation for the AIP gets the PB’s nod, it would be 18.84 percent higher than this year’s P362 million.
Meanwhile, Davide said the active participation of different stakeholders during the recently concluded provincial summit was an eye opener for him as he reaches 100 days in office today.
He said the ideas shared by various sectors would help his young administration in doing more in the areas of health care, food security, business and tourism.
“Kini ato (Ours is a) work in progress ni, I don’t even call them accomplishments, I call this work in progress since day one sa atong panglingkod (when I sat as governor),†Davide told reporters.
He said there are various challenges to his administration’s thrust of promoting a culture of transparency and accountability in the Provincial Government, but he is not buckling.
“Ato ning atubangon gyud, di man ta molihay (We will face this, we are not shying away from this). We are prepared to meet every challenge to come our way,†the neophyte governor said.—(FREEMAN)